He simply expressed himself as satisfied or dissatisfied, as a matter of taste.

It came to her at that moment that she had never seen him really relax.

Only when he sat opposite to that great map which hung now in the further room, and wandered about from section to section with a pencil in one hand and a piece of rubber in another, did he show anything which in any way approached enthusiasm, and even then it was always the unmistakable enthusiasm born of dead things.

Suddenly she laughed at herself in the little mirror, laughed softly but heartily.
This was the guardian whom Fate had sent for her! If Elizabeth had only understood!.